Clockwise from bottom left: International Toilet Tourism Awards co-founders Carolyn Childs and Bronwyn White; Dunnies with a Difference, quirkiest winner last year; a new category of Sanitation Progress for emerging economies has been added for the toilet awards in 2018; and the new bright entrance to Southern Highlands Welcome Centre loos (winner of Best Economic Contributor in the 2017 awards.)
The destinations with the best tourist toilets in the world will be invited to sit on the throne for a year.
The 2018 International Toilet Tourism Awards are now open to submissions from tourism destinations that want to wipe the floor with the competition.
After many years analysing tourism trends, the awards’ creators and owners, MyTravelresearch.com, aim to show tourism destinations that clean, creative, quirky public toilets go a long way to boosting a destination’s image and generating tourism dollars. People stop to spend a penny and end up spending more.
The 2018 awards will go to public toilets in the following categories: Best Economic Contributor, Best Location, Best Design, Quirkiest Toilet Experience, Best Accessible Toilet, Sanitation Progress (aimed at developing economy destinations that have made big steps in public toilet provision), and Overall Winner.
The 2018 awards were announced open 14 February at the Southern Highlands Welcome Centre in Mittagong, New South Wales – the destination that won Best Economic Contributor in the inaugural awards last year.
Officially opening the 2018 awards, Carolyn Childs, co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com and the awards, told attendees: “More smart destinations around the world are waking up to the power of the loo as a promotional statement. There are brilliant examples around the world. We want to recognise the best of them for a job well done.”
Good Loos a Tourist Attraction in Their Own Right
At the launch event, Manager Tourism & Events, Destination Southern Highlands, Steve Rosa, said: “It’s fair to say our loos have become a draw card in their own right since our win last year.”
Childs said the public loos at Destination Southern Highlands were indicative of the transformation destinations can make when they take pride in their public conveniences.
For example, the Southern Highlands Welcome Centre toilets were refurbished in late 2015 as part of a major overhaul of the centre. Today the toilets include a bright colour scheme, posters, audio reel, quirky fact stickers and free Wi-Fi. In recent weeks the centre added a bright mosaic entry wall to the loos.
Rosa told the audience that since the revamp of the centre’s “toilet experience” product sales at the welcome centre’s shop have increased by 20%. “The appeal of our toilets has allowed us to divert visitors into our information centre where we have been able to educate, motivate and sell them products. They also make hotel, restaurant and activity bookings there. It has given us an opportunity to disperse more visitors around the Southern Highlands and keep them longer.”
Angelos is the news editor for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). His role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy.
He currently studies Communication, Media & Culture in Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens.
